When black bears come looking. Ankeny, Iowa, bear hunter has a story to tell By Larry Myhre
Reprinted from the Sioux City Journal
Fords Hunting
Guide Service
Chris Ford, has been guiding bear hunters since 1995. Today he also guides for deer and fish on Lake of the Woods as well as offering island transport and tours.
He typically puts out 110 to 120 bear baits and narrows that down to only the best ones come hunting season.
The first week of this year’s season he had 11 clients and nine of them took bears with 18 opportunities. The second week five hunters had five opportunities and killed three bears.
For more information about his hunts, go to www.fordshuntingguideservice.com
BAUDETTE, Minn. — The forest had gone dead quiet. The camp robber jays had disappeared. The red squirrel which had been prancing back and forth in front of our ground blind for the past hour was no where to be seen.
I thought I saw movement in the brush behind our bait pile, a hole filled with donuts and pastries covered by logs.
And then it was there. A black bear and it was a shooter.
I nudged Gary and pointed, turning on the video camera at the same time.
He brought his Escort .270 mounted with a 3 X 9 scope to his shoulder and waited.
The camera was running and the bear stepped into view broadside a mere 25 yards away.
I heard Gary slide the safety off…and so did the bear. He was gone as quickly as he had appeared.
We were disappointed but it was only 5:30 p.m. There was plenty of time for another chance.h
We were hunting with Ford’s Guide Service out of Williams, Minn. Our headquarters was Zippel Bay Resort where Chris Ford pus up his bear hunters.
Chris had said we were on a good bait so we were confident there would be another bear that evening.
But the real story happened in another ground blind a few miles away.
There Terry Ubben, Ankony, Iowa, was sitting alone watching his bait when there was a noise behind him.
He turned and saw a big bear poking his nose into the back window. He also noticed the bear’s paw under the blind.
Then the bear tried stick his head under the blind.
Twice.
Terry sat there, heart pounding, gun at the ready. And he didn’t move.
The bear left the blind and went to a tree in front. He stood up and looking back at the blind.
For 20 more minutes the bear stalked through the area before offering Terry a broadside shot.
Later, in camp, Chris told us the bear would have had a live weight of abut 210 to 220 pounds. It ended up dressing at 162.
“That’s a very good bear,” he said. “The Minnesota average is 130 pounds dressed.
“I’ll give Terry a lot of credit,” Chris continued. “It took a lot of nerve for him to stay tight and not blow it.”
Our next chance came later that evening. Gary saw the bear approach from our left. I soon had him in the viewfinder. The bear walked directly to the bait. He stood broadside to us, head down.
Gary fired.
I head the bear ‘woof’ and then stumble as it ran out of view.
Later we checked for blood but couldn’t find any.
As instructed we stayed in the blind waiting for Kevin Olson, Chris’s partner. It’s too easy to get lost in these big woods.
It was dark now and we were whispering back and forth. I looked out the shooting window and saw a bear standing looking direct at us no more than 30 feet away.
Then he heard Kevin’s pickup and without a sound was gone.
We couldn’t find any blood, although three of us with flashlights scoured the area.
We decided to come back the next morning and continue the search. We did but it had rained over an inch that night and there was no blood trail.
Reluctantly, we gave up hoping against hope that it had been a miss.
We sat on that stand for two more nights but never saw another bear, although the bait was hit each night.